Anthropology: Word Definitions Flashcards
What is a Culture?
A total system of ideas, values, beliefs, norms, and attitudes shared by most members of a society.
What is an Informant?
A reliable and knowledgable person who provides information that is useful to an anthropologist studying that society.
What is Ethnology?
Study of origins and cultures of different people and races.
What is Kinship?
A relationship between two or more people based on marriage, common ancestry, blood, or adoption.
What is the practice of Participant Observation?
Carefully watching a group of people or society and sometimes living with them.
What is Ethnography?
A written account for a culture.
What does Subjective mean?
Type of conclusions based on your own feelings and opinions rather than facts and data.
What does Objective mean?
Types of conclusions based on facts and data rather than your opinions and feelings.
What is the practice of Reflexivity?
Reflecting on your own biases and opinions and the impact of that on the culture you are studying.
What does it mean to be Ethnocentric?
Believing one’s own culture is superior to all others.
What is a Subculture?
A small group within a larger group that share the same values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours.
What does it mean for something to be Culturally Constructed?
Created or shaped by a culture.
What is a Hominin?
A human or human ancestor.
What is a Fossil?
Preserved remains of biological matter.
What is the process of Radiometric Dating?
Determining the age of an object based on measuring how much radioactive material it contains.
